A daring rescue.
A difficult choice.
Sophie believes escape from the duchess is her only chance to be happy. When a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie’s one chance at freedom—but can she trust another person to keep her safe?
Gabe defied his parents by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl’s inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible—she is his brother’s betrothed, and Gabe himself is promised to someone else—he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what.
Gabe takes her away to the Cottage of the Seven. There they find help—and that their feelings for each other have grown. Now danger looms from within and without: the duchess will stop at nothing to see Sophie dead and Gabe’s and Sophie’s hearts have been lost to each other.
What I Loved
Melanie Dickerson did it again with this retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. My three favorite genres (historical fiction, romance, and fairy-tale-ish fantasy) collide in The Fairest Beauty.
My favorite character was Sophie. That may come as no surprise since she was the heroine, but I really enjoyed her sweet spirit, that she could be hesitant, and that she knew when she would stand for something no matter the cost.
This book is packed with adventure and action and intrigue. There are several twists and turns I didn’t expect. In fact, if I could have predicted the plot, it would have all wrapped up around chapter seven (so glad I wasn’t in charge!) and I would have missed out on so much mystery and many secret surprises!
What I Didn’t Like As Much
I’ll go ahead and admit that I found Gabe exasperating at times. He was adorable in a take-charge way and the way he cared for Sophie was incredibly endearing. But he could be so…thick-headed sometimes.
I wanted to sit him down and set him straight during a handful of scenes, but he grew and what he went through to mature didn’t in any way ruin the book for me. At all.
In fact, my favorite part was just before the ending when onto the scene come Gabe’s parents (who we may or may not remember from The Healer’s Apprentice. My lips are sealed. Somewhat.). They pointed out the faults in Gabe’s thinking and did what I wanted to do — cut straight to the heart of the matter. Without giving anything away, I’ll say I sat back at that point and breathed a sigh of relief because Gabe rose to the occasion and I liked him very much for that.
Why I Recommend This Book
If you love fairy tales as much as I, you’ll love this latest retelling from Melanie Dickerson.
The evil stepmother, the apple, the Seven, the flawed-but-lovable hero, and, of course,
the fairest beauty herself make for a lovely story.
About the Author
Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer’s Apprentice, a Christy Award finalist and winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award for Best First Book. Melanie earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Alabama and has been a teacher and a missionary. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Alabama.
Extras
Read my review of The Merchant’s Daughter.
Click play to watch the book trailer below.
A sincere thank you to Zondervan for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Hey Rachelle,
Sounds like a good book. Thanks for sharing.
I hope you enjoy it, KyLee! :)
That books sounds pretty good. I watched a terrible snow white movie once where the prince was transformed into a bear for the majority of the movie. What we saw of his "character growth" was just him roaming around the woods looking for food. It was an awful, awful movie. Don't ever watch it. :)
Debra, I have a children's book that sounds like the same story you are speaking of. It's not supposed to be the same Snow White. Did that Snow White of the film have a sister named Rose Red? The one in my book does. Totally different story; not supposed to be the same.
I'm dying to read this book…the funny thing is I've already bought it. I just have so much to do, books out that are almost due :P And I kind wanted to reread the previous books. In case there were any characters I needed to remember :D I really like your review style too :) I'm currently trying to not make a mess out of all the blog links, my thoughts and extras that I'm